Geopolitics and Markets Review – 8th May 2023

This is going to be quite a long version of the weekly geopolitics and markets review, so I’ll include a content page for you to scroll to the sections that interest you.

---

Sections:

1) Kremlin Drone Strike

2) Bakhmut Updates

3) Ukraine Bombs Crimean Oil Tanker, Russia Responds

4) Washington Negotiates Armenia-Azerbaijan Potential Peace

5) Erdogan Finds Oil Field Himself

6) First Republic Falls

7) Other News

- Norway Nationalizing Gas Pipelines

- The End Is In Sight For Syria’s Diplomatic Isolation

- Iran Seizes Texas-Bound Oil Tanker, Then Seizes Another

- US and South Korea Nuclear Agreement

- India Border Region Violence

- Taiwan F-16s

---

Kremlin Drone Strike

We continue to see games of espionage and “whodunnit” in this period of geopolitical tension. After Seymour Hersh’s deep investigation into the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage, we’ve seen internet cables cut near the Shetland and Faroe Islands, and later close to Southern France. There’s even a wikiHow page demonstrating how to cut fibre optic cables. Checking everybody’s internet history might be a great place to start!

Photo by Possessed Photography on Unsplash

These methods of infrastructure attack or more secretive and easier to hide than a drone attack in plain sight, as seen at the Kremlin last week. Nobody was injured in the attack, and Putin wasn’t present in the Kremlin at the time. This brings into question the nature of the attack. And who was trying to send a message?